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Should public beaches along the Great Lakes in Michigan have lifeguards?

The family of Andy Fox helped place a warning sign at the entrance to Grand Haven's south pier. Fox, 17, died after being caught in a Lake Michigan rip current at Grand Haven State Park Sept. 3, 2003. This picture was taken Aug. 9, 2013. (Cory Morse | MLive.com)

WEST MICHIGAN -- Do you think public beaches along the Great Lakes in Michigan should have lifeguards?

In Grand Haven, saving lives has become a community effort following a rash of drownings at Grand Haven State Park in 2003. One of the teens, 17-year-old Andy Fox of Grand Haven, drowned after being caught in a rip current in September 2003.

When the three Lakeshore-area teens drowned, there was one life ring at the Grand Haven State Park beach, then-park supervisor Pat Whalen recalled. Rip currents were not the household name that they are now in West Michigan, and were mainly associated with the ocean.

Grand Haven State Park and other beaches along the Lakeshore uses the colored flag system to inform swimmers of water conditions from Memorial Day to Labor Day: green means it is safe to swim, yellow means to swim with caution and red means it is dangerous to swim.

But the flag system alone was not enough to keep people safe in the water, even when it was posted.

Following Fox’s death, his family pushed to make Grand Haven’s beaches, and others along the Lakeshore, safer for its residents and visitors.

Fifteen alarmed life rings now hang on the Grand Haven south pier, automatically alerting 911 if they are taken off their mounting stations. Life rings and rip current signs also line the beach shoreline.

A 12-foot-high warning sign bearing the smiling faces Fox and Dan Reiss, another Grand Haven teen who drowned after being washed off the pier just two months after Fox, greets throngs of visitors at the base of Grand Haven’s 1,515-foot south pier.

The Great Lakes Beach and Pier Safety Task Force in Grand Haven produced two versions of a water safety DVD called, “Respect the Power.” The first version was distributed to nearly 3,000 schools and libraries in Michigan in 2005. Two years later, the film was updated for younger children and distributed to 5,500 copies to all Michigan K-12 school districts, libraries and colleges and universities.

Each summer, the Grand Haven State Park beach swells with participants during the annual Beach Survival Challenge, organized by Fox’s family. It’s designed to educate the public on water and beach safety while having fun playing games at the beach. The event has grown from 11 teams at the inaugural event in 2004 to 90 this year, with hundreds of volunteers.

As the Grand Haven community embraced water safety and rip current awareness since those drownings a decade ago, are there other safety efforts that could be done to make Michigan beaches safer for visitors?

B. Chris Brewster, president of the United States Lifesaving Association, is unaware of any state laws that require having lifeguards in open water areas. However, he noted that several states along the Pacific and Atlantic oceans disperse lifeguards throughout several miles of the shoreline.

Brewster, who lives in San Diego, said seven miles of the city's 18 mile oceanfront beach is heavily guarded with lifeguards 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, due to the popularity of its beach and its regularly high surf. There are also lifeguards up and down the New Jersey shoreline through Memorial Day to Labor Day. Some states, Brewster said, have moved away from lifeguards all together.

When asked if lifeguards would help prevent drownings in the Great Lakes, Brewster replied: “An evolution of the Great Lakes that we’ve seen over the last 10 years is something of a denial that rip currents even exist on the Great Lakes. … Tradition is not wisdom. There is a tradition on the Great Lakes of not providing lifeguards, but that doesn’t mean it’s the smart thing to do.”

We asked readers on Facebook if Michigan should require lifeguards on public beaches.

Here’s what some Press Facebook readers had to say. What do you think?

A.j. Bertin: Lifeguards are a good thing, but they shouldn't be required. Summer is too short, and it would be unfortunate for good beaches to be closed due to any staffing issues that might arise.

Becky Lynn: A lifeguard won't be able to stop the lack of common sense that leads to many of the drownings. … I wonder if placing more signs with pictures like those of the two young men who died at the Grand Haven pier would be effective. It humanizes the event of drowning. … People who grew up near the lake get it, but for the thousands of visitors to Pure Michigan, the lake may be their first experience with rip currents.

Will Beaton of SurfGrandHaven.com: We did have lifeguards at the Grand Haven State Park in the 1960's, but it was phased out sometime by 1971-1973. We did not have many rescues at the state park in the 1960s either, which may been that people avoided the water intake housings that were on the north end of the State Park. We always swam at the Grand Haven City Beach.

Bob Pratt of the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project: There are several issues with respect to lifeguards on Great Lakes beaches. Liability: Lifeguards must be well trained and supervised. The state only requires a pool certification to guard at our surf beaches. … Municipalities are protected from litigation except in cases of gross negligence and willful misconduct. Cost: Lifeguards are paid very little compared to other public safety professionals. It may seem like a great deal of money until someone compares it to the cost of a single fatal drowning. … As we stated in the article there is no magic bullet: swim lessons, lifeguards and common sense are three great ideas.

Joyce Maloley: The state needs to require Water Safety in all schools, as part of the curriculum, perhaps part of physical education.

Kyle Moroney covers suburban schools, business and general assignments for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Email her at kmoroney@mlive.com or follow her at Twitter or Facebook